Plot twist: Noodweer, Japan and paintings.

Four years ago Chris and I set up an exhibition for my artwork. By change we got our hands on a really nice space and asked 2 other artists to join in. After the first exhibition we were able to stay a bit longer and set up another one, and then another. Gallery Noodweer was born. Eventually the owner found someone who wanted to rent the space so we had to move on. But we'd had so much fun organizing this we decided to look for a new space and continue our work. And now are yet again forced to move out of the space we have, for the 4th time in as many years. After some debate we decided it is time to finish this project and move on. We had a great time. We learned a lot. Hopefully we inspired others as much as they inspired us. As much as we regret having to quit we came to the conclusion that, right now, in this economic climate, it is simply not possible to run a gallery in this set up. We have one final exhibition in February by Boukje van Iperen which I am really looking forward to. Her work is amazing and I'm glad we can finish with a bang.

 

 

 



So what happens to Noodweer? We need to take a look at what we want, what we want it to mean, what we want to do for people, and how we would want to achieve that. I'm not sure yet how this will take shape. It will take some time to re-evaluate everything that has happened and also to get over our loss. I'm sure Chris and I will collaborate again in the future but right now we need a bit of a breather.

This didn't just happen yesterday so I have had some time to think. I have been thinking a lot about that I want to do with my life in general lately. I had been making plans to go abroad for a while; move to Japan and see if I would have more luck there with my artwork. But then I realized it's hard to get visa so I started looking for easy ways to get one. And then I started looking at courses and job options and before I knew it all these things were no longer about art. Losing Noodweer made me realize that art really is the most important thing in my life and my main focus should really be on my art. I keep losing myself in distractions and I'm not getting anywhere with my career as an artist. I need to stop doing that. I would still love to go to Japan for a while. I love to travel anyway and I would really like to again. But it's not something I should pursue in a way that means sacrificing my art. I need to start taking my work seriously. If I don't, no one else will. Why is this so hard? Because it's got my blood, sweat and tears in it. It's my hopes and dream, my fears and nightmares. My soul. And having that rejected is the hardest thing there is. There is no way I can make it as an artist without going through a lot of rejection first and that part really, really sucks. I'm dreading that part. I know how hard it is going to be as I have tried it before and didn't make it. But this time I feel like I am ready and somehow the idea of succeeding is starting to get scary as well. What do I do then? I know it's way to early to start worrying about that. I still have a long way to go. It's time to take a deep breath and dive in.

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We are re-opening art gallery Noodweer!

About two years and one month ago a friend of mine, Chris, and I, decided to start an art gallery. Well, not really, but that's what happened. It started with me looking for space to exhibit my own paintings and being turned down by galleries because I couldn't guarantee sales or was not able to pay huge entry fees. Chris his mom owns a building and the lower floor is shop space. But she as having trouble finding tenants so she asked Chris if he wanted to use the space while it was vacant. So we decided to exhibit my work there. And then we realized the space was pretty big and invited some other artists to join the exhibition. Rather sooner then later we had made up our mind that we would continue to show other people's work there as well, aiming for starting artists who were having the same kind of trouble as I was. And there it was: Noodweer was born.

We hadn't expected it to be such a success. And we hadn't expected to enjoy it so much either. Turned out we really loved helping new artist, guiding them into the big bad world of exhibiting your work, and yourself, presenting your heart and soul to the world. Once there were paying tenants we had to move. We started looking for a new location but had no budget so things were a lot more difficult then we had hoped. Eventually we decided to use Chris his living room to continue our exhibitions. We were surprised at how successful they were. Through one of those exhibitions we got invited to start organizing the exhibitions at the new Vrijplaats location at the middelste gracht. The building is amazing so we decided to shift our focus there for a while.

 

A few months later Chris his mom told us the tenants (construction workers who were just using the building while working on a project around the corner) were leaving and we were welcome to come back. Of course we said yes! Things have changed a bit though. We have learned a lot and want to do things slightly different. We don't want to get kicked out again when she finds someone who can pay the rent. We want to stay. So we are using some of the walls the previous tenant built, adding a few walls, moving some doors, etc, so we have 3 spaces that we can rent out as art studio's. They're not huge but a good size for a studio. Getting artist to work there should cover most of the rent so we would be able to stay. This would be awesome. We still have some work to do though and budget is tights. We don't have any money to put in a decent floor at the moment so that is going to have to wait. Hopefully, after a few exhibitions we will be able to fix that as well.

I'm really excited about the whole thing. It's a huge project and if it fails I will be highly disappointed, not to mention even more broke then I already am. But people seem to really like what we are doing. We need to professionalize a lot of other stuff as well. We have a facebook page but not a website yet. If you know how to build a website and would like to help us, or know anyone who could, please let us know. We would be eternally grateful. Of course we are also always looking for new artists. If you can think of anything else that could help us, please speak up! You can reach us at galerienoodweer@gmail.com